“Looked at from the point of view of other organisms, humankind resembles an acute epidemic disease, whose occasional lapses into less virulent forms of behavior have never yet sufficed to permit any really stable, chronic relationship to establish itself.”

Source: Plagues and Peoples (1976), Ch.1.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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William H. McNeill 43
Canadian historian 1917–2016

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